Soldiers come to the world

In Xiakou, the cold wind blew across the surface of the Yangtze River, rolling up waves of waves. It was mid-November and entered the coldest season of the year. There were not many boats on the river, and most of the fishing boats were gone. Stopping at the shore, a long line of merchant ships occasionally appeared on the river.

At this time, a large boat of five hundred stone appeared on the river outside Xiakou Town. On the bow, Liu Xian, the driver of Jingzhou, was watching Xiakou Town in the distance with his hands behind his back.

He was suddenly surprised to find that Xiakou seemed to be building a city, tens of thousands of people were carrying earth and rocks by the river, they were extremely busy, and the outline of a city had already appeared.

Immediately, Liu Xian became interested, and turned around and ordered, "Dock to the shore!"

The big ship docked slowly, and the wharf in Xiakou was also full of boats, most of which had the Tao family's double carp flags on them. The boats were full of grain. Liu Xian went ashore and followed the path to Mount Huanghu.

Huanghu Mountain was later known as Snake Mountain in Wuhan. At this time, the top of the mountain has been covered with a thin layer of snow. There is no Yellow Crane Tower on the top of the mountain. There is only a sentry tower made of bluestone, which can overlook the river.

Standing on the top of the mountain, Liu Xian could see more clearly. The outline of the new city appeared in front of his eyes, with a circumference of about twenty miles, enclosing the entire Xiakou Town. Half of the pavement has been completed, and nearly [-] civilians and soldiers are busy. Judging from this posture, it is estimated that the new city will be completed by next spring.

"Excuse me....."

Liu Xian found two civilian husbands who were resting on the mountain, stepped forward and asked with a smile, "How long has Xiakou city been built?"

Two civilian husbands were sitting behind a big rock and chatting, when they heard someone behind them asking them, they jumped up in fright, and when they saw the person wearing official uniforms, they knelt down and kowtowed again and again in fright, "We don't dare to be lazy, let's do it right away!" live."

Liu Xian smiled and waved his hands, "You don't have to be afraid. I'm from Xiangyang. I just got off the boat. I want to ask you a few words."

When the two civilian men heard that he had just disembarked, they were shocked for a while, and an elderly man replied: "Report to the envoy, it has been 20 days since the city was built."

"Oh! Are you all locals?" Liu Xian asked again with a smile.

"We are from Wuchang County. We have come here to work after the autumn harvest. We can't come if we don't come!"

"Why is this?"

The two husbands looked at each other, sighed and said: "We are tenant farmers of the Huang family, and we live by renting and planting the land of the Huang family. Later, the army came to our house and ordered us to perform hard labor in winter. Otherwise, the land will be taken back and distributed to the military households. There is no way. , I had no choice but to come, but... fortunately, you don’t need to bring your own dry food, and it’s not bad to take care of the food and fill your stomach.”

Liu Xian nodded, Jingzhou's folk customs are unorganized, blindly applying benevolent government may not be effective, and the way to govern is to combine leniency with strictness. Huang Zu did this before. Liu Jing did not sing the opposite tune because he hated Huang Zu, and also inherited Huang Zu's Jiangxia policy strategy , which is not bad.

At this time, a soldier came down from the sentry tower, ran directly in front of Liu Xian, cupped his hands and said with a smile: "This envoy is here to look for my Sima!"

Liu Xian heard something in the soldier's words, and quickly responded: "Exactly, is Liu Sima here?"

The soldier pointed to the busiest group of people at the foot of the mountain, "Do you see, the tallest person is my Sima!"

Liu Xian's eyes are not good, and the distance is too far, he can only see a group of people vaguely, but the soldiers will not lie to him, Liu Xian is very happy, it turns out that Liu Jing is in Xiakou, fortunately he came to the shore to have a look, otherwise It's a waste of time to go to Wuchang.

He hurried down the mountain with a few followers.

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It has been ten days since Liu Jing returned to Jiangxia from Xiangyang. As early as when he took over Wuchang, he ordered Liao Hua and Yiji to come to Xiakou to build a city. Xiakou strangles the Yangtze River and Han River, and its strategic location is extremely important.

From the year before last, Huang Zu also gradually transferred Jiangxia's troops and supplies to Xiakou, making Xiakou's strategic position more prominent.

More importantly, after the Chaisang War, Jiangdong was unable to go west within three or four years. The biggest threat to Jiangxia was not from Jiangdong, but from the west. Whether it was Xiangyang or Nanyang Cao Jun, they would become Jiangxia's biggest threat.

In terms of deeper strategic considerations, moving Jiangxia's military and political center to Xiakou will help Jiangxia's army control the Han River and seek Xiangyang.

It has been three days since Liu Jing came to Xiakou for inspection. He is quite satisfied with the progress of the city building. This time, not only nearly [-] civilians were mobilized, but also more than [-] prisoners of war from the Jingzhou Army who were exchanged from Peng Ze were also put into the city building. The plan is to complete the fortification by February next year.

Liu Jing was discussing the height of the city gate with several craftsmen when Liao Hua called him from a distance, "Sima, someone from Xiangyang is here!"

Liu Jing turned his head and saw Liu Xian walking towards him. He was overjoyed. Liu Biao really sent Liu Xian to negotiate.

At that time, Liu Jing sent soldiers to deliver letters to Liu Xian, largely because Liu Xian was a neutral faction. He was neither partial to Liu Qi nor Liu Cong. In fact, from another perspective, he was not interested in these two sons. That will be extremely beneficial to Jiang Xia's negotiations, at least he will face Jiang Xia's rise rationally.

Liu Jing hurriedly greeted him, cupped his fists and saluted with a smile: "Don't drive Liu, don't come here without any harm!"

Liu Xian also returned a salute with a smile, "I thought Mr. Jing would be in Chaisang, ready to actively defend the Jiangdong army, but I didn't expect to build a city in Xiakou."

Liu Jing laughed, "Isn't building a city in Xiakou a form of defense?"

Liu Xian gave a wry smile. It's better not to talk about this kind of thing. Thinking of his mission, he carefully suggested: "Young Master Jing, let's talk?"

Liu Jing nodded, "Let's go to Wuchang to talk."

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Dozens of large ships slowly left Xiakou and sailed towards Wuchang City. Liu Xian stood in front of the ship window with his hands behind his back, watching the Xiakou city building in the distance for a long time. The deep meaning of this is obviously shifting Jiangxia's strategic focus to the west. In the final analysis, Liu Jing's eyes are still fixed on Xiangyang.

"Young Master Jing, are those soldiers who built the city the prisoners of war in Jingzhou?" Liu Xian turned and sat down and asked.

"It's them."

Liu Jing said with a smile: "Anyway, they have nothing to do in the barracks, so letting them participate in building the city will give full play to their advantages."

"Zhou Mu hopes that these prisoners of war can return to Xiangyang as soon as possible, and hope that Young Master will release them back to Xiangyang as soon as possible."

"freed?"

Liu Jing shook his head, "There is no issue of release. They were not monitored by anyone when they built the city. They can leave Jiangxia and return to Xiangyang at any time, and I will not stop them. Why use the word 'release'?"

Liu Xian didn't understand, he frowned slightly, "You mean they don't want to leave Jiangxia?"

"Not really! After all, the wife and children are in Xiangyang County, who doesn't want to go home? I guess it's because they haven't received their wages, so they don't want to leave. Once the wages are released, most of them will rush home for the New Year."

"That's what happened!"

Only then did Liu Xian suddenly realize that these prisoners of war were paid to participate in the construction of the city, and Liu Jing had some means to detain the prisoners of war in Jiangxia in this way.

However, Liu Jing had at least expressed his willingness to repatriate these prisoners of war, which made Liu Xian feel relieved.

He pondered for a moment, then changed the subject, "There is also the matter of Jiang Xia's prefect. Zhou Mu proposed a plan, Mr. Jing can propose five candidates, and then Zhou Mu can arbitrarily choose one of the five candidates. I wonder if the young master agrees? "

Liu Jing laughed, "Now the army and civilians of Jiangxia County only recognize one prefect, and that is me. Apart from me, Jiangxia County will not accept anyone as prefect. Please don't tell Zhou Mu about this."

On the issue of the prefect, Liu Jing was unequivocal. Although he could appoint Liu Hu as the prefect and Kuai Liang as the prefect, and he was actually in power, the generals in the army and the officials of the county government all opposed it unanimously. If the name is not correct, the words will not ring true.

If he, Liu Jing, cannot serve as Jiang Xia's prefect, then many things cannot be handled, and many of the decisions he makes will not be legal, and the relationship is very important, so he must sit on the prefect position, this is the first negotiation, he Never back down.

Before Liu Xian could speak, Liu Jing went on to say: "The four thousand prisoners of war are just to be replaced as prefects. If Xiangyang refuses, then there is no way to talk about it. The four thousand troops will directly receive land in Jiangxia, and their families will also be sent to Jiangxia. Will move east to Jiangxia, don't think about it first!"

"This..." Liu Xian was a little embarrassed. Although Liu Biao allowed him to be the plenipotentiary to negotiate with Liu Jing, Liu Biao did not fully agree with Liu Jing being the prefect. If he rashly agreed, it would be difficult to explain when he went back.

He thought for a while and said: "Let's do this! Let's continue the discussion on the basis that the son will be the prefect of Jiangxia."

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It took about a day and a half from Xiakou to Wuchang County. At noon the next day, the fleet arrived in Wuchang. Liu Jing asked Liu Xian to go to rest first, and ordered someone to take care of him. After Liu Xian was arranged, he immediately led dozens of soldiers to the west. After rushing away, Liu Jing arrived at Jiangxia Academy after running along the official road for an hour in the wilderness.

Jiangxia Academy was the former Huang's Villa, the residence of the Huang family. Since the Huang family was wiped out by Jiangdong, the Huang's Villa has become an empty house.

Even so, it is still the most magnificent mansion in Jiangxia. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with beautiful scenery. Not far away is the vast lake.

Many people suggested that Liu Jing take over the mansion, but Liu Jing did not agree. One is that the villa is a little far away from Wuchang City, tens of miles away, so it is inconvenient to travel. On the other hand, he is alone. Such a big house seems a bit too spacious and deserted.

So Liu Jing decided to change the name of the Huang's Villa to Jiangxia Academy, where more than a hundred outstanding talents and their families lived. A person was moved in, and this person was the new head of the Academy, Kuai Liang.

Liu Jing agreed to Kuai Yue's proposal and appointed Kuai Liang as the head of the academy.

A group of people rushed to the academy, the plaque of Huang's Villa had been removed, and a pavilion was built in front of the gate of the academy, and a white jade tablet was erected in the pavilion, with the four characters "Jiangxia Academy" engraved on it.

There are special officials in the academy. When they heard that Sima was coming, the officials immediately came out to greet them, bowing and saluting, "See Sima for your humiliation!"

"Is Master Kuai here?" Liu Jiang got off his horse and asked with a smile.

The official pointed to a few old men fishing by the lake not far away, and said with a smile: "There is a person in there, and that is Master Kuai!"